Thursday, 26 August 2010

Recommended: Satoshi Miki films

Several years ago, some friends and I went for a walk up a hill. It was a sort of saddle shape so it had two peaks, and once we'd reached one, we looked at the other, and decided that the other one was higher. So we set off to that one. But once we'd arrived and looked back at the other peak, we started thinking that perhaps the first one had been higher all along.

The only reason I tell this story is because that's how I felt trying to work out which of Satoshi's films I like most. Although I've only seen three, the choice is surprisingly difficult, and whenever I make a decision, I immediately start to change my mind. "Turtles are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers" is perhaps the funniest, and it has one scene with my "dream team" of J-drama together at last: Ueno Juri, Aoi Yu and Nukumizu Youichi (even if the scene is barely two minutes long). "Insects Unlisted in the Encyclopedia" has the best story and Kikuchi Rinko (Liar Game 2, Moteki) in it and Fuse Eri is hilarious playing a sweet-guzzling teenage boy. Lastly "Instant Swamp" makes most sense as a story (despite the flying dragons), and has the strongest lead performance from Aso Kumiko.

So take your pick. You can't go wrong, if you don't mind stories that aren't in any hurry to get to the end. Perhaps it is an acquired taste, but it's one that gets better each time.

Yeah, he makes these cameo appearances from time to time. For instance, he was in the first European special for Nodame Cantabile for about three seconds. When I saw him, I thought "Excellent, he's in this too!" but then we never saw him again!